Hey Arnold! Season 6: Happily Never After
by Cre8ivelybankrupt87
Summary: In the first episode of my imagined season 6 of Hey Arnold!, the story picks up right where The Jungle Movie left off. The first episode establishes the new status quo following TJM. Arnold reflects on how much his world has changed since the summer, and is feeling strangely unhappy with how things aren't living up to what he expected.
1. Chapter 1: How Bad Could It Be?

Summer break had at last reached an end, after a tumultuous series of adventures for many schoolchildren in the city of Hillwood. Bright and early that morning, crowds of PS118 students all flocked towards the building as the sound of the bell rang, signaling the beginning of a new school year, and for many of them their last. Young Arnold had spent a large majority of his life coming and going from this very building since he had been five years old, and it was hard to believe he had now reached the beginning of the end of his elementary school days. Now he stood tall among the other sixth graders, at the top of the school food chain, even if he was still among the shortest of his peers. Of course, that change in the status quo paled to the most prominent change in his life; which followed behind him in the form of his once long-lost but now omnipresent mother and father. After an incredible misadventure over the summer in the jungles of San Lorenzo, he had at last located and rescued his fabled parents, and they were now living with him and his grandparents. They had spent the remainder of the summer bonding together, and also trying to become acclimated to life in the city, but now that summer had at last come to an end his parents didn't quite seem to know how to deal with Arnold's absence, and had followed him to school like a pair of lost puppies. They kept a slight distance behind him, walking hand in hand and now that they had reached the school, Arnold turned to them with the intention of saying goodbye. Strangely, the two of them looked ready to follow him inside. He had spent the summer explaining many mundane everyday functions they didn't understand, owing to having missed out on the last decade, but surely he didn't have to explain to them they couldn't just come into school with him, he hoped. The look in their eyes however prompted him to do just that.

"You'll have to stay outside, okay?" Arnold said. His own tone surprised him, as if he was talking to a pair of children, but by the guileless expression on both his parents face it didn't feel unwarranted.

"Okay." Stella said in a somewhat vacantly happy voice.

"When will you be done?" Miles asked innocently.

"Uh…" Arnold stumbled, slightly amazed he had to explain all this to a pair of grown adults, "3:30?" With that, he turned and ran up the stairs, where his teacher Mr. Simmons stood in the doorway waving.

"We'll be waiting right here!" he heard his mother call after him.

As the doors slowly began to swing shut, Arnold turned back and looked at his parents, who both stood on the school stoop gazing up at him with broad smiles across their faces. This at first struck him as strange, but as he looked into their loving faces he admonished himself for any slight embarrassment he felt. He had waited his entire life to at last meet them and perhaps even have them in his life again, and he could deal with their understandable ignorance in such matters. He smiled warmly at them before turning and heading off to his homeroom. As the doors closed, his parents remained still, just staring in the direction their son had disappeared in. And they continued to do so long after he had disappeared from sight, just staring and smiling at the doors.

In the homeroom, Arnold's now twice prior teacher Mr. Simmons hushed the excited classroom.

"Students, listening ears!" Mr. Simmons called out, as everyone quieted down, "All right, class, welcome to the first day of sixth grade! You've all come so far since the first time you walked through the doors of this school, walking through these hallowed halls as mere kindergartners, and now every challenge you've overcome has led you to this! Frankly I'm… I'm overcome… you've all just grown so much and I…" he stopped, tearing up slightly and sniffled.

"Oh boy…" Arnold heard his best pal Gerald murmur.

"Well," Mr. Simmons said, getting a hold of his emotions, "Before we begin our exciting new year of academic discovery and growth, why don't we all go around and introduce ourselves by-"

"Are you kidding me?" Helga interjected, "We all know each other! We've been in the same class together for two stinking years already!"

"Hey, Simmons!" Harold blurted out, "Why are you our teacher again? For the third year in a row?"

"Seriously," Helga huffed, "And why am I always stuck in a class with this same gaggle of goof wads year after year?"

"Hey, we're all stuck together with you too, Helga." Stinky pointed out.

"Class… I don't think we should be so focused on the negative on our first day of class." Mr. Simmons said, twiddling his fingers, "Now, I know we all had a…. rather tumultuous summer vacation to say the least, but the important thing is we're all back here and ready for our final year of learning together."

"Unless you follow us to junior high, too," Helga scoffed under her breath. Her friend Phoebe giggled at the notion.

"Well, why don't we all go around and share something special we did this summer?" Simmons suggested, "Who here has something very special they'd like to share?"

At this suggestion all student hands immediately shot up to the shock of their teacher.

"Oh, wow… you all must have had quite the summer." Mr. Simmons said, "Let's narrow this down… who has something unrelated to San Lorenzo?"

All the students immediately lowered their hands.

"Nothing else?" Simmons asked, "Nobody did anything else special after the class trip?"

Rhonda raised her hand, and Mr. Simmons gestured to her.

"Well after that harrowing jungle experience, my family and I took a glorious two week trip to Capri in Italy, just to unwind and refresh."

"Oh my, the views there are spectacular." Simmons noted, "Did you have a chance to see the Blue Grotto? Or the views of Monte Solaro?"

"What?" Rhonda asked, "Oh, I didn't really see any of that, I was busy updating my travelogue with selfies from the hotel room. I got more than twenty likes and gained two new followers!" she turned and looked at her fellow students, "Be sure to like, comment and subscribe!"

Arnold largely ignored Rhonda, instead casting his gaze over on Helga, who was sneering as she was wont to do in these circumstances. He had once found her scowling face to be off-putting, and now he found he just couldn't look away, now finding it endearingly cute. Helga had carved out a reputation in her school days as a ruthless bully, with Arnold himself always in the crosshairs as her favorite target, and despite his forgiving nature he didn't care much for her in return. A year or so earlier however, Helga had risked life and limb to help him in several scenarios, and eventually had made the shocking revelation that she in fact harbored deep seated feelings of love for him, and even kissed him. Unable to comprehend this, Arnold pretended it never happened after the fact, which just caused her to ramp up her usual abuse, though despite them both lying to themselves Arnold slowly began to confront his own feelings for her in return. Having at last come to grips with how he felt about her this past summer in spite of her general surly behavior, he now wanted nothing more than to make her happy however he could. Now whenever not thinking about how happy he was to have his parents back in his life, she was the only thing he could think about. As Simmons began prattling on about the curriculum for the semester, all Arnold could do was sit and stare at Helga from behind, admiring the pink bow sitting atop her golden head.

His loving gaze in her direction apparently had garnered her attention, and as if sensing his eyes piercing the back of her head she whirled around and fixed him with a threatening stare.

"What do you think you're looking at, football head?" she hissed.

Arnold returned her harsh words with an impish smile. Unaccustomed to her threats failing to deter him, much less apparently pleasing him, her face turned slightly pink. A few giggles surrounded the pair. Panicking, Helga reached inside her desk, grabbed a ruler and threw it at Arnold's head like a boomerang.  
"Ow!"

"Quit staring, dingus!" Helga growled.

"Arnold? Helga?" Mr. Simmons, not having seen the ruler-tossing, turned towards the two fighting kids, "Is there a problem?"

Arnold looked at Helga who only scowled at him, then looked back to Mr. Simmons, "Um, no." he answered, "I just um… bit my… tongue." he fumbled for an excuse.

"Oh." Mr. Simmons scratched his head, "Well, um, be careful then. Right class, now returning to the lesson plan…"

Mr. Simmons continued on with his agenda for the coming weeks as Arnold glanced fleetingly at Helga, then reluctantly turned his attention back to Mr. Simmons and academia. Arnold would have felt confused if not for the bitter sense of abandonment and sorrow hadn't been foremost on his mind. After their experiences this past summer, he thought he had Helga figured out at last, and now he sadly realized just how little he still understood.

As class gradually transitioned to the lunchtime period, Arnold still couldn't take his mind off his little altercation with the girl he in his mind now considered his girlfriend. Unsure of what he had done to offend her, he now sought to get to the bottom of it. Walking alongside Gerald, the two boys headed into the cafeteria and stepped into the food line behind Phoebe and Helga.

"Man, the sixth grade homework load is already more than I can take…" Gerald moaned, "And we're only at lunch on day one."

Phoebe turned her head back towards Gerald and smiled, "Well, if you need a study buddy, I'm always game." she said.

"Sounds good to me." Gerald smiled.

"And if you need any help with college prep I've already begun looking into a list of perspective-"

"Phoebe!" Helga shouted, "It's day one of grade six! Wait until you're at least a freshmen in high school for all that malarkey."

"It never hurts to plan ahead, Helga." Phoebe noted.

"Yeah, well the extent of my plans involves getting my hands on some grub." Helga said, as she filled her tray, "Go save us a table, Feebs. I've got your lunch covered."

"Saving!" Phoebe obeyed and ran off to grab a table.

Gerald and Arnold exchanged a disappointed look. Helga had shown a more mature and sensitive side over the summer, and now that they were back in the familiar halls of PS118 she appeared to have fallen back into her old habits of abusing all unfortunates around her.

The four of them shared the lunch hour together, with Gerald and Phoebe playfully flirting as Arnold and Helga said little apart from the occasional potshot they took at one another. After lunch, Arnold at last came across Helga in the hallway alone and approached her from behind.

"So… Helga?"

"What do you want, football head?" she huffed.

"What's going on?" Arnold asked, "I thought you and me were…"

"What?" Helga asked, "After all that you think I still don't hate your stinking guts?"

Arnold fixed her with a very hurt look.

"Well… yeah," he said, "I thought we were past all this…"

Helga twitched, and crossed her arms as Rhonda, Nadine and several other girls passed by them, watching them out of the corner of her eye intensely.

"Oh Arnold, won't you ever learn?" she scolded, "I'm bad. I'm as bad as they come. And even a sanctimonious little whatever like you can't just turn me over to the side of good by virtue of being you."

"Huh?" Arnold asked, "Helga, what are you…"

"Oh y'know." Helga said with a twinkle in her eye.

Suddenly she jumped behind a corner, and gestured for Arnold to follow. He shrugged then stepped into the shadows with her, out of sight of the other students. As soon as he did he abruptly found himself locked in her grip, but not the usual kind people found themselves in with her, this was more akin to a hug, though still just a little aggressively tight.

"Oh Arnold, my poor darling…" she swooned, "You undeserving target of my most twisted passion. Under the harsh gaze of the unforgiving masses, our love remains but a candle under a bushel, and so it must remain, for were it to be released it would spread a destructive fire too violent and unstoppable for the world to-"

"Helga?" Arnold cut her off. "What are you talking about?"

"My dear, my dear sweet football headed fool in love," Helga sighed, then abruptly snapped out of her daydreamy state and looked at him seriously, "Look… can we just kind of keep 'us' on the DL for now at least?"

"Huh?" Arnold asked.

"What do you mean 'huh'?" Helga laughed, "I thought that was pretty straightforward. Look, you know the truth, and I know the truth…"

"And Gerald and Phoebe," Arnold added.

"Yeah, and those two would stand by us through thick or thin," Helga said, "Everybody else? Can you imagine what they'd say or do if we made this all public knowledge?"

Arnold considered this. Their classmates at large weren't known for being sensitive on the surface, so he could respect the fact that Helga, who he knew was secretly a very sensitive person didn't want to gain their attention.

"I guess they… don't need to know…" Arnold sighed in resignation.

"Good boy." Helga patted his cheek, "Now c'mon, let's get our butts to class. And no hand holding."

"Whatever you say Helga," Arnold sighed.

When the bell at last rang and brought the first day of sixth grade to an end, Arnold stepped outside to find two familiar faces still looking in his direction as when he'd left them.

"Mom? Dad?" he asked.

"Hey, Arnold!" They both said.  
Arnold couldn't believe his eyes. Surely they couldn't have spent all day waiting on the stoop for him.

"What did you guys do while I was in school?" he asked.

"Oh, we were just hanging around waiting," Miles said.

"Okay, great..." Arnold said, "You know, there's plenty to do around the city."

"Yeah, we just want to do that stuff with you," Stella smiled.

"How long were you in there?" Miles asked, "That felt like forever..."

Arnold imagined staring at a door for seven hours would feel like forever. He spotted Gerald and Phoebe and called out them.

"Hey Gerald!" he called, "Wanna meet at the vacant lot?"

"Sorry, pal," Gerald said, "Phoebe and I are going to the library."

"We have to study our anatomy." Phoebe added.

"Don't you mean chemistry?" Gerald asked in confusion.

"Right..." Phoebe said with a giggle, "That's what I meant..."

Arnold knew Phoebe was one to go study on day one of class, but seeing Gerald doing the same was a stark reminder of their heavier course load for the year. He sighed feeling somewhat saddened, but then spotted Helga heading past his parents. His parents likewise saw her and waved. Helga however walked straight past the Shortmans as if she hand't seen them.

"Wasn't that your... friend?" His mom asked.

"Yeah..." Arnold sighed, "She probably has beepers to sort. Let's just go home."

"Okay!" his parents said in unison, still smiling at him rather strangely.

Arnold's concerns had been confirmed. His parents were dearly caring people, and showed him the kind of affection he had always longed for from his biological parents, and yet, their complete lack of decorum and understanding of the basic functions of everyday life outside of the jungle was proving slightly concerning. The mere notion that they had spent the entire day waiting outside the school touched on a level of weirdness even his kooky grandparents never reached, and that combined with the demanding sixth grade curriculum and his rather baffling relationship with Helga had put a slight damper on his usual optimism. From some kind of literary or cosmic storytelling perspective, he had seen this as a well-deserved happy ending, but now feared his troubles in life were just beginning anew.

* * *

_**There were really two roads to go with Arnold and Helga's relationship. One being the deep, dark, psychological one I ended up going with, but I think the simpler explanation hinted at in the movie is simply that Arnold, despite liking Helga now, is still completely clueless when it comes to girls. If you look closely, what happens in the scene where Helga rebukes him is that Gerald first offers his hand to Phoebe like a gentleman, which she then accepts. Arnold sees them do this and tries to copy, but just grabs Helga's hand without her permission. She then of course rebukes him but walks away with a smile on her face that suggests she's enjoying him chasing her for a change. In my stories that'll be the simple surface explanation for why she treats him like that, but of course it gets much deeper later.**_

_**And of course his parents... my concept with them comes straight from the source. In an interview Craig Bartlett said to keep the drama going in a continuation of the show would mean that Miles and Stella couldn't stay the seemingly perfect people they appeared to be in The Journal. Yes, they're good hearted loving parents, but after what happened to them in San Lorenzo they're now kind of damaged goods and a little nuts. Not in a bad way, but they're completely out of their depth as parents and are just kind of a pair of little lost puppies at this stage, eager to please but kind of annoying in that way. This leaves Arnold in the same position of being the only sane man with two kooky grandparents and now two kooky parents as well.**_

_**Next chapter, we'll see how the new dynamic at the boarding house is...**_


	2. Chapter 2: That Bad, Huh?

The first night's load of homework wasn't too terribly heavy, but for one of a few times in his life Arnold was finding difficulty in accomplishing it. After a gallant but unsuccessful first attempt to do his algebra homework, Arnold sighed in defeat and then headed downstairs with his textbook and notebook, hoping to get some help from either his mom or dad. He'd occasionally gone to his grandpa for help in the past, but did feel a strange sense of excitement for being able to ask his own actual parents for homework help for the first time. As he thought this he could almost hear Helga laughing at him for it in his mind, but it didn't bother him.

Spying his dad sitting at the table looking through the newspaper, Arnold approached him.

"Dad?" he asked, "Could you help me with some of these math problems? I'm not quite getting how this algebra thing works."

Miles folded his newspaper and smiled at his boy, apparently excited to be able to help him with homework for the first time.

"Of course," Miles said, and the two of them stepped over to the kitchen where mom and Grandpa were talking. As they took a seat at the table Miles mused, "After all, I was a scientist once upon a time so how bad could-" His eyes went wide as he stared at the open page on the text book as if looking into a vast abyss. "Oh… well, it has been a while… um… did math always use letters?"

"Let the doctor give it a try," Stella said, then took one look at the open page and shouted, "What in the heck is that? Math never looked like _that_ before!"

"I mean you two have been asleep since the Reagan administration," Grandpa chided, "Stuff changes."

After several futile attempts to figure out the assignment, the Shortmans decided to break for dinner. Arnold sat in silence as they ate, with a lot on his mind he more or less forgot the others were even there. His mother's voice however broke him out of his daze.

"So, what should we do tomorrow?" Stella asked excitedly, "There's still that botanical garden exhibit! I really want to check that out."

"Yeah!" Miles added, "What do you say, Arnold?"

Arnold looked at them and blinked.

"I have school again tomorrow." He reminded them.

"What?" His parents gasped in unison.

"Again?" Miles asked.

"It's only Monday night." Arnold said.

"Well how many days a week is school, anyway?" Stella asked, scratching her head.

"Um, Monday through Friday?" Arnold said incredulously.

"What?" Miles gasped, "Why that's… five days a week then!"

"Glad you haven't forgotten all your math skills," Stella chuckled, "But seriously, you have to spend seven hours a day, five days a week in that place? That's criminal… how can they do that to kids? I ought to take it up with the superintendent… give him a piece of my mind…" she pounded her fist against her palm with a fiery look in her eyes.

"You sure those greeneyes people didn't give you two a partial lobotomy while you were asleep?" Grandpa asked.

Arnold sighed, as his parents and grandpa continued to debate the state of the educational system his mind wandered, and soon he likewise wandered back up to his room to press on with his homework, alone.

The following school day continued largely in the same vein as the previous one. Arnold had turned in his homework without much confidence in how he'd done with it, and now found himself having difficulty focusing in class with Helga sitting in his line of sight, and she once again returned his affection with the same tender love and care she had displayed yesterday, only this time she'd thrown a book at him. In between classes he tried to talk with Gerald, but his friend found difficulty in getting his attention off Phoebe.

As he walked through the hallway in a somewhat lonely daze, he suddenly felt an aggressive hand pulling on the back of his coat and pulling him into a shadowy corner.

"Hey!" he shouted, "What do you-"

Helga's hand covered his mouth and she grinned impishly at him.

"Oh Arnold, my love…" she cooed, "Only beneath these gentle shadows can my true unabashed gushy self flourish, for under the scorching light would I wilt away like a flower in the burning hot-"  
"Helga…" Arnold groaned, "Is this going to be a regular thing with you?"

"Well, Arnold, you can't just expect me to gush all over you in public. Can you imagine how jealous everyone would be? They'd tear me to pieces! My hatred for you is one of the pillars of our society in the public eye," she giggled, "You know me, modest to a fault."

"Yeah, I'd say that about describes you accurately…" he muttered.

"Hmpf," she said haughtily, "Count yourself lucky, football head. I could just go back to gushing my affections to my locket. At least the picture of you was a gentleman enough not to talk back."

She kissed his cheek and shot him another playful smile before she stomped out of the corner and back into the hallway, leaving him in a confused daze.

The rest of the day panned out much like the day before. Arnold wasn't even shocked or displeased to find his parents waiting outside the school building once again to walk him home. This time he didn't mind, feeling as if they were the only constant in his life right now. With Gerald and him apparently drifting apart and Helga offering only tiny bursts of comfort each day, Arnold couldn't help but feel he had never been lonelier. As he walked with his mom and dad however, he had to remind himself how lucky he really was to have them in his life. That didn't make a lot of their behavior any less comfortable alas.

After another uncomfortable day of school, Arnold had an equally uncomfortable evening at the boarding house. His parents and grandparents were happily reminiscing together about this and that, but Arnold once again found himself just not feeling he fit in. Hours later he at last began his preparations for sleep, reflecting on just how confusing everything was turning out with this new school year. By all accounts he had expected after saving his long lost parents in a seemingly climactic adventure in the jungles of San Lorenzo, and getting the girl on top of that, everything should have been happily ever after. But of course, he was only a kid and had a long way to go in life, he realized somewhat disparagingly.

Just as he was just climbing into bed, Arnold noticed his parents standing in the doorway, which gave him a bit of a start.

"You guys are really… stealthy sometimes." he said.

"Want a bedtime story?" Miles asked.

"Um, that's okay, I think I'm just going to go to sleep." Arnold said, "Thanks, dad."

"Goodnight Arnold." Stella said, sitting at the foot of his bed, "My sweet little angel…"

As she squeezed his foot, Arnold smiled somewhat reluctantly. He hadn't minded being doted on by them for a while, but lately he couldn't help but feel as if they were babying him just a little. As they both kissed him goodnight, he felt at peace again however. Whatever their little quirks were, he could forgive them. After all, they hadn't done anything too crazy. Yet.

After closing his eyes he couldn't shake the feeling that he was still being watched by two pairs of eyes. Keeping his eyes closed, he rolled over and didn't want to find out.

The next morning when Arnold arrived downstairs in the kitchen, his mother greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hey, Arnold!" she said, "Dad is still working on breakfast, but here I made yours already!"

"Oh, thanks," Arnold said, wondering what that could be.

Stella reached into the refrigerator and Arnold went aghast when he saw her holding a baby bottle and offering it to him.

"Here you go, sweetie," she said.

At first Arnold just stared, thinking this had to be a joke. As he looked into his mother's eyes however he didn't see a trace of mischief or irony.

"You're old enough to hold it up yourself now, right?" She asked with concern.

"Mom?" Arnold asked, "I'm eleven…"

The vacant and innocent look in his mother's eyes abruptly vanished and she covered her mouth, apparently undergoing some shocking epiphany in this moment.

"Oh!" She gasped, "You are… aren't you… I'm sorry, Arnold. Wow, it feels like just yesterday we were bottle feeding you."

Grandpa Phil who had observed the whole scene chuckled, "At least she didn't offer the alternative, eh short man?"

Turning red, Arnold scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and said, "Um, I think Gerald wanted to meet early… I'll just being going now…"

Arnold dashed out the front door, and promptly started jogging at a brisk pace towards school before his parents could follow him. He felt his parents were proverbially starting to baby him, and now his mother had crossed the line into literally babying him.

* * *

_**If you thought that bit with the baby bottle was weird, well... the original idea I had for it was even weirder... I originally thought Arnold would just wake up and find Stella holding it in his mouth, which at first made me laugh but I fortunately realized quickly just how freaking creepy that would have been. **_

_**Considering how his parents are missing the last decade in their minds... I could fully believe that they would occasionally have moments forgetting how much time has passed. I thought it would be funny if they occasionally baby Arnold, and then sometimes quite literally accidentally treat him like a baby.**_

_**Don't worry, as nutty as his parents seem in this particular story, they get better... **_


	3. Chapter 3: Could Be Worse

Arnold reached PS118 before any of his fellow students, but was forced to wait outside until the building opened some time later. He waved to his friends as they all passed by, but found that many of them were starting to pair off into cliques of their own, and he found himself slightly on the outside looking in. Caught up in his own mind again, the time passed him by in something of a blur, and before he knew it he found himself once again sitting in class starting ahead, feeling his infamous optimism now running on fumes. He didn't even have it in him to listen as Mr. Simmons spoke.

"All right class, for the next phase in our first unit in math we're going to be jumping into the exciting world of quadratic-" Mr. Simmons paused as he noticed something off, "I'm sorry, we appear to have two new students… wait…"

All students turned their heads to the back of the room, Arnold included and he gasped in horror to see none other than Miles and Stella standing at the back of the room staring ahead and smiling.

"Mom, Dad?" Arnold asked in embarrassment.

"Oh, hello Mr. and Mrs. Shortman," Mr. Simmons said politely but sounding understandably confused. "Did… Arnold forget something?"

"Oh, no," Stella said casually, continuing to stare with a guileless smile.

"Then… what…?" Mr. Simmons half asked.

"Well, we just wanted to spend some time with our boy." Miles explained, "There just aren't enough hours in the day!"

At that, the entire room burst into laughter, which didn't deter Miles and Stella from their constant smiling. Arnold sank into his desk, vainly hoping no one could see him somehow.

"That's… that's very sweet and a very, um, special kind of sentiment but… well, within the school hours there is a certain… um… separation of child and guardian, that is to say um…" Simmons stumbled, not sure how to address the obvious point that parents accompanying their kids to class was generally frowned upon, to put it mildly.

"Oh man," Helga laughed, "Only thing more entertaining than a football head is a whole family of em, ha!"

"Talk about embarrassing." Sid snickered.

"And I thought my parents were freaks!" Curly laughed aloud.

"No, you're thinking of you." Rhonda snickered, "But still…" She laughed with everyone else.

Miles and Stella didn't mind the jeering of a bunch of kids, but their faces sank when they at last noticed Arnold's deep embarrassment.

"Oh," Stella said, "Arnold? Should we wait outside?"

"No!" Arnold at last shouted in frustration, "Just… go do something! Anything!"

Miles and Stella looked at one another worriedly, and then hand in hand they departed, which didn't exactly make Arnold feel any better.

After being laughed at for most of the day, when school at last ended Arnold saw Gerald approaching him with Phoebe in tow.

"Hey Arnold," he said, "I was thinking, I haven't seen much of you this week. Sorry about that. Wanna meet up at Gerald field later?"

Arnold lit up. Finally something had come along to brighten his day.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Arnold said.

"Count me in," Came another voice. Arnold turned and saw Helga. "I could use a little fresh air. Too much asbestos or something in that emporium…"

Arnold felt the urge to admonish her for her rather janus faced behavior the past few days, but was just so happy to spend time with friends for a change he really didn't mind all of a sudden.

"All right," Arnold said, "Five o'clock? Should give us time to finish our homework."

The four friends all nodded to one another, then went their separate ways. Arnold felt a renewed surge of hope for the future, though he wasn't looking forward to having to discuss with his parents about the stunt they had pulled this morning.

When he returned to the boarding house he found his parents weren't around. Good, he thought, they must have actually gone out to do something other than dote on him for a change. As he reflected on his now old life, he realized just how much independence his grandparents had given him from a young age. They were attentive and caring of course, but never in a way that felt intrusive or suffocating as he regretfully was beginning to feel with his parents. He had an easier time with his homework today, with the light at the end of the tunnel in the form of hanging with his friends at Gerald Field. When at last he finished, he flew down the stairs, ready to head off but he spotted his parents sitting in the kitchen as he passed by.

"Hey Arnold!" they both called out.

"Oh, hi mom and dad." he said, stopping to speak with them.

"We're sorry, Arnold." Miles said, in embarrassment.

"Yeah, in hindsight that was probably not the best move…" Stella offered. "I hope you're not mad."

Arnold was indeed as close to being truly mad as he usually got, but as usual his voice of reason and understanding conquered all and he of course forgave them.

"It's okay, mom," he said, "Just… maybe don't do that again. It was a little embarrassing."

"I know, and we're sorry," Stella said, "We just feel like we've missed out on so much that… well, we want to make up for it all. We don't want to miss out on any more of your life."

Arnold could feel himself melting at those words. He knew exactly why his parents were behaving so weirdly clingy, and he had to admonish himself every time he felt annoyed or embarrassed.

"It's okay," he said, "I understand. And there's plenty of time for us to bond. Right now I was gonna go hang with Gerald, though. I'll be back between six and seven."

"Hey, that's great." Miles said, "We were just thinking, maybe we could find a way to spend more time together during the day. We thought maybe we should try… home schooling?" He suggested.

"Ha, good one." Arnold laughed it off, but then abruptly panicked when he realized apparently he was serious, "What?" he gasped, "No!"

"Oh think about it Arnold, it could be great!" Stella said.

"But… I'd barely ever get to see my friends!" Arnold protested.

"You'd… get to spend more time with us…?" Miles said.

"Yeah?" Arnold groaned, "Well maybe I've spent enough time with you guys already…" He moaned, and then walked out of the kitchen and out the front door.

"Okay, bad idea." Miles admonished himself. Stella shared his concerned look and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Grandpa Phil poked his head into the room and said, "Well, you sure ruined that potentially heartwarming family moment."

"I thought reconnecting with him would be easy…" she sighed, "I didn't realize just how much we really had missed in his life…"

"Oh just one of his many painfully illuminating boyhood problems." Phil reassured them, "He tends to have one of those every eleven minutes or so."

Arnold tromped down the sidewalk on his way to Gerald Field. He hoped his parents weren't actually going to seriously pursue their idea of homeschooling him, but for now he decided to somehow put that out of his mind. When he at last reached the vacant lot, he saw Gerald, Helga and Phoebe standing on the sidewalk. The two girls had their hands on their hips, Gerald held a football and all three of them looked equally frustrated. As he drew nearer he saw that the lot was apparently already occupied.

"What the heck is this?" Gerald scratched his head, "What are all these kids doing on our field?"

"Hey! Shrimps!" Helga shouted, "What do you think you're doing here?"

All the kids looked in her direction with wide innocent eyes. They were all much smaller than anyone in Arnold's group, he noted as he scrutinized them. Arnold realized suddenly these kids were all likely fourth graders, between the ages of nine and ten and just doing exactly what they had always done here. Helga too seemed to realize this and eased off reluctantly, as the kids resumed their game.

"Snot nosed little brats…" Helga grumbled, "What do they think this place is? Some kind of play land for kids? We've got important stuff to do here!"

"We'll just have to share it," Arnold shrugged, "I mean, we don't want to be like Wolfgang used to be to us, right?"

"I guess." Gerald sighed. "Man, one minute you're in the fourth grade, and next you just find yourself looking at the next generation taking over your field… I bet they don't even know who it's named for! Kids these days…"

Not having it, Helga pounded her fist against her palm, "We need another trash can day…" she growled, "That'll thin their ranks a little…"

"Helga, we're not throwing a bunch of little kids in trash cans just to-" Gerald paused in thought, "Actually that might not be such a bad idea…"

"Look, guys let's just do something else." Arnold urged, but as he spoke, a group of their classmates walked by, all tailing behind Rhonda who seemed to be pontificating as they clung to her every word as she stared at her smartphone. When she noticed Arnold, Gerald, Helga and Phoebe she stopped and smirked at them.

"You guys aren't actually still trying to play ball here, are you?" she asked, "Seriously, aren't you all just a little old for that now?"

"Aren't you a little young to need major reconstructive surgery to your broken nasal bone?" Helga retorted, shaking her fist.

Rhonda stood her ground and shook her head.  
"What's that I hear?" Rhonda asked, "Is it time for Helga's daily empty threats? C'mon everyone, the mall awaits. You four are welcome to join us of course."

Rhonda led the other larger pack of kids away. A few of them waved but no one in Arnold's group moved. Arnold looked at his feet somewhat sadly.

"Too old for catch in the park?" he asked himself.

Helga placed her hands on her hips, "Ah, maybe she's right. Guess we're not getting any younger. Well, I've got to sort beepers anyway, or I'll have to deal with Big Bob's nagging all night. See ya in the funny papers, folks."

And with that she stomped off back in the direction of the beeper emporium, as Gerald, Arnold and Phoebe looked at one another sadly.

"I suppose I have homework to do…" Phoebe said, "See you later, Gerald?"

"Yeah," Gerald winked, "I'll come by and we can work on… anatomy."

"Great." Phoebe giggled, and gave him a little peck on the cheek as she skipped off homeward.

Gerald looked at Arnold, then smiled.

"Hey, just you and me then." he said, "Let's just toss the football, huh? We don't need the whole field."

"Sure Gerald," Arnold smiled, "Sounds great."

After what felt like an hour, but had really been about fifteen minutes, Arnold and Gerald continually tossed the football back and forth between them, with neither of them finding much to say, both looking contemplative and somewhat bored.

"This just isn't happening is it…?" Gerald asked.

"You're not feeling it either, huh?" Arnold asked.

The two lifelong friends shrugged in sad resignation, and together they walked over to the bleachers and sat down in a slump.

"Maybe Rhonda's right." Gerald sighed, "Maybe we are just too old for all the stuff we used to love…"

"Maybe." Arnold said, "Everything's changing."

"Yeah, well…" Gerald said, "The only real guaranteed constant in life is change, my man."

"Gerald?" Arnold asked, "You and me, we'll always be friends, right?"

"Of course!" Gerald said quickly, "What you and me have is unbreakable."

The two of them smiled at one another, though privately Arnold felt the slightest feeling of doubt nagging at him. He and Gerald had been the tightest of friends since the day they had met, and yet now with this new school year Arnold was beginning to see just how impermanent everything in life really was. Still, Gerald's warm smile reassured him to some degree.

"Hey, Phoebe and I were gonna meet up later to… study." Gerald said, "See you tomorrow, man?"

"Yeah." Arnold smiled, "See you tomorrow Gerald."

Arnold stuck out his hand to initiate their customary secret handshake, which Gerald didn't appear to notice and had already turned to leave in his excitement.

"Everything's changing…" Arnold sighed, looking at the football Gerald had left.

Sitting on the bleachers, Arnold watched the younger kids all happily playing together, completely carefree and without a trace of anxiety in their echoing laughter. Slowly they all began to leave one by one until Arnold once again found himself alone, watching the last two kids leaving. The two boys in question reminded him of Gerald and himself, and as they walked off together talking and laughing Arnold realized he had never felt lonelier in his life. As he sat in the empty lot he and his friends once called Gerald Field, he rested his head in his hands, and reflected on the first week of school. For all his confidence this would be the best year of his life yet, things just weren't looking that way now. He didn't mind Gerald spending so much time with Phoebe, he only wished they still had equal time to hang out too. Worse still, he didn't even know exactly where he stood with Helga, who had been so aloof at school all week, and seemingly impossible to find outside of school most of the time, Arnold felt fairly isolated.

"Hey Arnold!" a new voice rang out.

Arnold looked up to see his father and mother walking towards him.

"Why so down?" Miles asked.

"Hey, dad, hey mom," Arnold smiled, "It's nothing… I just…"

"Hey," Stella said warmly, "We're not going to pull you out of school, Arnold. We were just looking for a way to spend more time with you."

"I know," Arnold sighed, "Things are just so different that I… I don't really know how to deal with it all."

"Arnold, I know your mother and I are just… forever struggling to catch up," Miles said, "But, we just don't want to miss out on any more than we already have."

"Yeah," Arnold nodded, "I want that too. And I'm… I'm really glad to have you both back. Everything's just kind of confusing right now."

Stella looked at the football sitting at Arnold's feet and smiled, "Well, I know one thing that isn't confusing. A little good old fashioned American football." She dashed over and grabbed the ball, and shouted, "Come on!"

Arnold and his dad looked at one another and grinned. Both of them took off after Stella as she threw a perfect spiral to Arnold, which impressed him. Arnold then threw the ball to his dad, who caught it with ease and threw it back to Stella. For the next hour or so, Arnold and his parents tossed the football back and forth, chatting and laughing as the sun set over Hillwood.

Arnold felt his optimism slowly returning, and felt certain all these rising issues in his life could be worked out given time. Wasting a little time throwing the football around with his parents was the sort of thing he had longed for all his life, so everything else felt trivial in comparison. Finding little moments like this was well worth all the other craziness in life. All he'd ever really wanted was to be on an adventure with his mom and dad, and maybe this wasn't what he had in mind, but it was undeniably an adventure all its own.

The End

* * *

_**With the first episode I wanted to establish the new recurring conflicts for this season. The kids are feeling a little overwhelmed by school, particularly Phoebe who is already beginning to worry about college. This of course leads into her spending way more time with Gerald, as the two of them are constantly "studying," which leads to Arnold feeling that he and Gerald are drifting apart. Helga meanwhile, instead of confiding her feelings into her locket, is now pulling Arnold himself aside and briefly showing her true colors, and continually otherwise tormenting him whenever anyone is looking. And of course Arnold's parents are… kinda nuts. My concept with them came straight from Craig Bartlett, who stated in an interview that in a continuation of the series the drama would now partially come from Arnold's parents not living up to the seemingly perfect people they were in Parents Day and The Journal. They're still exceptionally good people, but owing to their ten years asleep they're now kind of damaged goods and Arnold will forever be the only sane man in the boarding house. And of course now Grandpa is forever teasing them about being asleep for ten years.**_

_**Up next, a much lighter story… Grandpa now has his son and daughter-in-law helping to run things at the Sunset Arms, and is giving thought to finally retiring.**_


End file.
